First NASA Lander to Study Mars' Interiors Lifts Off From California

The USD 993 million project aims to expand human knowledge of interior conditions on Mars, inform efforts to send human explorers there, and reveal how rocky planets like the Earth formed billions of years ago.

Its name, InSight, is short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport. (Image: via Twitter/Nasa)

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Vandenberg Air Force Base (US): NASA on Saturday blasted off its latest Mars lander, InSight, designed to perch on the surface and listen for "Marsquakes" ahead of eventual human missions to explore the Red Planet.

"Three, two, one, liftoff!" said a NASA commentator as the spacecraft launched on a dark, foggy morning atop an Atlas V rocket at 4:05 AM Pacific time (1635 IST) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, marking NASA's first interplanetary launch from the US west coast.The USD 993 million project aims to expand human knowledge of interior conditions on Mars, inform efforts to send human explorers there, and reveal how rocky planets like the Earth formed billions of years ago.

If all goes as planned, the lander should settle on the Red Planet on November 26.

Its name, InSight, is short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport.